Hi
I have been making a chair and because it can be approached in different ways I tried out a few different ideas. I constructed the first model out of several parts and this had the advantage of making it easier to texture but there were a lot of non visible surfaces which inflated the number of polygons. Eventually I booleaned it all together as a single object. This made it marginally smaller in file size but more difficult to texture.

Now I'm wondering how a professional would approach such a model. Would it be best to make models that have separate components as in real life or merge separate items together so that the outer visible shell is all that there is?
Keith

Hi Keith - My personal way is a combination of both. Build a single solid if possible and then separate it into joined surfaces or single ones if needs be, then it is easier to map it out. However, after saying this, you should also consider the materials to be used at render time, so as an example, shiny or dull metals don't really need uv mapping and can usually be handled by procedural shaders, as can glass and plastic etc, even those that require bump mapping via noise or fractal maps.

Hi Keith, it's kind of difficult to answer your question because there isn't just one single global definition of what constitutes a good model. That's because models are used for a wide variety of different purposes - if you are rendering a model versus manufacturing or 3D printing the model that makes a big difference on the criteria of what constitutes "good".

Things can also vary depending on personal preferences and comfort levels with particular kinds of workflows too...

So I'm sorry I don't know for sure how to answer your question really - but if you find it easier to do things on way versus some other way I'd say that it would make sense to do it the easier way.

Often times with NURBS modeling though it can be good to build things as generally larger pieces if you want things to be smooth rather than building them as little separate patches, is that maybe related to what you're asking? So for example with your cushions the cushion isn't entirely smooth - that's because of this "patch by patch" type construction method rather than building the cushions as a larger surface.

Hi Michael
I have found the easiest way to make anything is using moi. I had a look at Strata Design and even negotiating the view port was a challenge for me. I know this doesn't have to be the case because, although slightly different, the way used by both Moi and Simlab don't need any instructions. I think maybe part of my problem is that I am not making models for any purpose so I don't have any terms of reference to work to.

BTW I made the seat base/back and cushion using Max's SubD tools. The best cushion I made was one that I ported over to Sculptris but the number of triangles was enormous.